Todays Boating

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Thank you chaps. One of the simplest boats i have! A bonus at this scale is that all the Dinky things will fit straight in…so caravan…no problem.

Unsurprisingly the ferry is probably the most used of my boats, with the Mintanic coming second. It’s always in the car, has pondside interest and is so easy to operate, being very frugal on the batteries as well due to the 385 motor AND makes a great rescue boat especially with the neoprene foam bumpers.

Another bonus is that both decks fit in the box …one in the boat and one on a Plywood bearer on top of the gun whales.

Ashley

 

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Have not posted lately as the weather has been very bad for boating and the current project is in the thinking and buying phase.

For all our discussions, Trevor and I need the hardware in front of us to make informed decisions. There appear to be so many variables to this one that progress is going to be slow until we make the big decisions and start cutting wood.

The non flying saucer is due for a re-vamp to replace all the separate led’s and sticky strip led’s with AA battery operated christmas lights.

I recently measured the current consumption of the outer ring of sticky-strip lights as 0.45A…which is FAR too much and goes a long way to explaining why the endurance of the saucer has always been bad..and that’s running on 9.6v and not 12v ( that the lights are rated at).

Ashley

 

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

An interesting subject if you are feeing ambitious….

Colin

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Now if I could just get AI to make it for me!

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Fabulous.the challenges in making that ( with fully detailed interior)….a lifetimes work…

Came across a u tube video of an old boy making…5? 6? Foot ships using bread and butter techniques ( period cinema film). From experience with the diamond, also bnb  it seems an impossible task to stop the hull gradually splitting and forming tiny cracks along the joints, eventually..especially at this size???

Finally getting round to drawing a “plan” ( for discussion tomorrow) for the forthcoming joint boat build.The reality of all the moving parts is coming home, as is the difficult decision as to how deep and long the hull needs to be.

Unbelievably the propulsive effectors appear to be the very last thing to be both designed and made, as the completed boat..fully powered and equipped needs to be in the water before said effectors can be fully decided upon.

Ashley

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Most of the Builders Models in museums feature B&B construction and some do in fact show some evidence of cracking along the joints. They would have been made from well seasoned wood.

However the killer is that a model can sit in a museum environment for decades but as soon as you move it the temperature and moisure balance in the wood changes and horrible things start to happen with warping etc.

I do wonder how some of our models will hold up in the longer term, especially if they have been sheathed in GRP.

Colin.

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

I think the thing about GRP sheathing is that it should make the outside of a hull impermeable as well as give strength. If the hull is not totally sealed on the inside as well, the moisture content will vary and some distortion or swelling is likely to occur.  Balsa would be very vulnerable and because we don’t use marine plywood there would be a risk of delamination.

Superstructures are likely to be the most vulnerable.

It is one of the main reasons I use epoxy to sheath and to seal.  In the case of decks for instance, I seal the underside of decks with epoxy first and let it cure.  I then stick the decks down with epoxy after very lightly abrading the contact surfaces.  Polyester resin is fine for sheathing and water based products can be fine for sealing but neither are reliable adhesives.

On the whole i think most of our models will hold up well.

Tim R

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Not much boating still here. Wet wet wet and cold.

I need to sail the Diamond more this year and see how the cracking in the b’n’b hull holds up.  I think a wipe over the cracks with paint or ezekote before sailing should provide some measure of protection…considering it will only be in the water for a couple of hours.

Finally started on the new project. It’s a sanding marathon, however the new belt linisher is showing the way in removing material before any manual sanding.

I will make the hull today. Not necessarily happy with the design but the mechanics of the drive and desire to keep the overall length manageable are dictating the form.

Ashley

 

 

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Grey out again this morning.

Taking “easy” boats to the pond

Mintanic, new Jersey and likely the ferry…or a lander.

Ashley

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

At least the rain has stopped and the temp is going up.  Now I wish I had a club close by.

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Unfortunately the mud will take days (or weeks) to go. Just come back from walking our dog. Some parts of our normal walk still have very large puddles and 3 inches of mud.

The Herons and Little Egrets seem to like it.

The River Erewash is going down a little now.

Not sure now many dry days we will get?

Off to watch Football this afternoon so that will be nice if it stays sunny!

 

Tim

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Not posted for a while as I give up trying to log in on the phone after 5 mins and the laptop is getting cranky,  although got in after only 4 tries on the tablet just now.

No news really but as per the HSS article, a really simple fix (angling the exit ducts on the jets) solved the maneuvering issues I had at first. Seem to recall someone else has/had similar issues a few months ago on a similar build.

Current project progressing slowly. Trevors version progressing quicker but he hit a totally unexpected snag which requires more work and hopefully my mechanism fares a bit better ( as it’s slightly different)

Used the palm sander I bought a while ago to sand the hull and it’s brilliant. Should have bought one a long time ago.

Also a Bosch PBD40 pillar drill has been purchased for use in the shed. A really great piece of kit…its a bit like a big electric hand drill mounted on a vertical rack. Electronic speed adjustment, laser cross hairs, worklight, very sexy machined die cast alloy base plate.

My old pillar drill is still serviceable but is tucked away in the garage in a corner. The Bosch can sit on my well li work bench.

Ashley

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

My first ever fixed tool was my Black and Decker hand drill mounted in a very early Black and Decker drill press.  I thought it was the bees knees at the time.  I still have it in the attic and haven’t used it for years but I haven’t the heart to throw it out.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Boating today. Mintanic in a very choppy sea, but bone dry inside despite some heroic rolling.

I had one of those hand drill presses a long time ago. If you couldn’t afford..or have the space for…a proper drill press then I suppose they were better than nothing. They used to make one to mount a Dremel in…can you still get them?

Might be collectable soon Richard…don’t chuck it out!

1. Ashley

 

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Proxxon do a drill stand for their hand held drill unit, which is a very handy bench mounted modelling drill.  Quite a small chuck though.

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Those were the days. I had the B&D drill press in the days when I was in a 10 x 6ft shed in the garden.

You could spend nearly as much time swapping the drill from one tool to another as woodworking..

Nowadays I guess you are swapping a battery from one tool to another.

Thinking back to those days I still managed to make  bookcases, cupboards and a sewing cabinet, Hifi unit etc. I suppose because we couldn’t afford to buy them .

Unfortunately my son’s wouldn’t have a clue nowadays.

Tim

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

In those days Tim we did whatever was necessary to achieve the results we wanted.  I once moved into a mid war semi to find the electrics were awful.  So I bought a book and a copy of the IEE regulations of the time and rewired the place myself.  The same place had a garage door mounted on the rear of the property that opened up into the cellar.  I decided the door was in need of replacement so I bought a new door.  When I removed the old one I found the frame was waterlogged so I removed that, then I found the steel beam supporting the wall above it was badly corroded so the wall had to come down and the beam had to be removed.

I luckily worked for an engineering outfit at the time so I bought a new beam through them and got it galvanised.  I refitted the beam, rebuilt the dwarf wall with new copings, rebuilt a new wooden frame and refitted the garage door.  I couldn’t have afforded to have it done professionally so I did it myself.  As you say today’s youngsters simply don’t seem to have the drive to want to do things any more.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Not much of note here. Struggling with the new project, me and Trev, but its sort of getting there.

Of note in the HSS article was the incredibly simple device of angling the rear jet outlets a bit to effect differential thrust steering, without which the thing was unsteerable.

I have stripped the drive from the P&O ferry as the supporting ball races seized up and once freed up were incredibly graunchy. i plan to replace them with teflon top hat plain bearings.

Todays boating…..SRN4, taking snaps etc etc.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

After moaning about the issues of logging in, I have just fired up model boats on the phone and was already logged in!

P&O ferry drive rebuilt with nylon top hat bearings instead of the rusty ball races and it’s purring like a kitten now. I used a metre length of 4mm brass rod to line them up, going right through the boat….and if only I was confident in putting a thread either end of a stainless steel rod I would simply have one long shaft instead of three bits.

SRN4 super on the pond Sunday after struggling to replace the broken prop suffered last Sunday. They are ” push on” not that you would think as they are megga tight and I broke one trying to put it on and then the motor became un glued…which actually helped putting the prop on. No damage done. Up working OK now.

Ashley

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Ashley

 

I think when I was having trouble logging in, Richard said he logged in the first time and never logged out again.

I know I have occasionally forget to log out and not had any trouble . Perhaps that be the way for you.

 

Tim

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I never log out….however…today right now I am STILL logged in on the phone!

Been buying yet more bits for the rowing project, mostly on the back of Trevors woes and anticipating similar issues on mine despite the drive arrangements are different.

The basic issue, as it seems to be, is friction in the bearing arrangement when the toothed belts are tensioned. It’s catch 22…you need more tension to prevent tooth override and tjus causes more friction. Bizarrely Trevors mech works fine with no rowers…works OK with half the rowers…but then gives trouble. The rowers are all.loose so we have a conundrum on our hands. Just possibly the belting is JUST on its limit and is easily topped over the top with just a tiny extra load.

To combat this, larger toothed pullies have been ordered and I have also.ordered a lower geared unit to combat the gearing increase that the bigger pullies will give. I am nowhere near fitting rowers yet so this is all simply double guessing.

Motor adjustment will also need to be considered so the motors on both boats will be mounted on aluminium angle with slotted holes. T nuts ( captive nuts) will be anchored under the boat to allow the holding bolts to be tight ( yet another purchase).

At the end of the month..bank Holiday Sunday  and Monday we will be exhibiting at Kempton Steam Museum, and Noel plans to bring his 8 foot Ark royal along. Other clubs will be there and the steam engine is massive and not to missed in action.

 

Ashley

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Ash,

Maybe the mechanism will only work with a bloke at the stern beating the rhythm

on a drum ? Just an idea 🙂

My flying buddy and I went to the Popham airfield show today in Hampshire A303 very good show 4 boat clubs there and a small pond.

Regards  Ray

 

 

 

[ashley needham]

On ashley needham Said:

At the end of the month..bank Holiday Sunday  and Monday we will be exhibiting at Kempton Steam Museum, and Noel plans to bring his 8 foot Ark royal along. Other clubs will be there and the steam engine is massive and not to missed in action.

Yes I will be there on the Monday, looking forward to it.   Been spending a lot of time over the winter making pipes and fittings for the Ark, and have got two extra Buccaneers for the air wing!

Went to Bushy this morning, bit cold and windy but had a nice chat with Richard.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Noel!  You will probably need a table or trestle to put the Ark on at Kempton. There might be some tables there or there might not….

Two more Buccs…super. Any crew???

I met pete at the pond today but we decided it was just too windy and nippy to stay…so we left!  It was just this sort of weather that flooded the ferry last time and rusted the bearings. Problem being the fore deck is not sealed but just sits in place, and the flat front throws up water.

Ashley.

[NoelParticipant @noel26080]

Haven’t got to crew yet.  Not sure how to do it, definitely need some but want to avoid the “frozen in time” effect.  Maybe some people doing something rather than walking or just standing…

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